The Tractor Boys welcome Preston to Portman Road this weekend. Both sides are flying this season and this game looks guaranteed to be pure entertainment.
Ipswich
Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich has been immense since earning promotion to the Championship and they thoroughly deserve to be in second place on 25 points, winning 80% of their opening games and only losing once. That defeat did occur at Portman Road, yet Ipswich have the best home record in the league. The Tractor Boys are the Championship’s joint top scorers with 21 goals and they are the only side to have scored in every game so far. They also have the fifth best defensive record, conceding an average of 1.1 goals per game.
Last time out, Ipswich comfortably beat Hull 3-0 at home. Wes Burns opened the scoring five minutes into the tie and they continued to dominate the first half from that point on, with Conor Chaplin doubling the lead in the 41st minute. The game was wrapped up in the 65th minute, thanks to Marcus Harness.
Preston
The Lilywhites are sat in third place in the Championship after ten games, however almost every game they’ve played in has been tight and decided by fine margins. Ryan Lowe’s side have won 60% of their games, however they have won only twice on the road. That said, when travelling they have only lost once and conceded one goal on average per game.
However, in the last two matches, Preston have lost 4-0 at home to West Brom and 3-0 on the road against first place Leicester. The defensive resilience that has heavily contributed to their position in the table had been discarded. A commonality between the two defeats is that they conceded very early on and in an attempt to get back on level terms, they’ve conceded another before half time. They simply cannot afford that to happen against Ipswich.
Verdict?
Ipswich have momentum on their side going into the tie, whereas Preston are experiencing their first major dip in form. The hosts should win this game and if they are able to open the scoring in the first half, it should become quite comfortable.
The final Prediction is Ipswich 2-1 Preston.
